


Food for Thought

by m7storyteller



Category: October Road
Genre: Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-30
Updated: 2010-09-30
Packaged: 2018-01-25 19:46:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1660322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/m7storyteller/pseuds/m7storyteller
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mr. Garrett has some words of wisdom for Eddie about Janet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Food for Thought

He was still laid up in bed when The Commander came by to pay him a visit. The older man was silent until he sat back in his chair, "It's hard when you love someone. To allow them the ability to love you, to cause you pain."  
  
"Who told you?", he asked, not looking at the man, but at the closed laptop that was still on the bedside tray in front of him from earlier.  
  
"No one.", he answered, "Someone asked her how you were and she started crying. Only one other time I've seen a woman cry like that. Doesn't take a scientist to figure it out."  
  
Eddie sighed, "I still can't believe it, and I have no idea what to do about it."  
  
"You could do one of two things. You could forgive her and let her go, let both of you go on.", Bob said, "Or you could forgive her and keep her. Both of them are hard, but it's a part of life."  
  
"How do I forgive her? She slept with Rooster. Rooster! It's bad enough he had a crush on her, but to know that she was with him.", Eddie groaned, closing his eyes, "Makes me sick."  
  
"That's when you grow a spine.", Bob said, "When you need to decide if you can let it go. And that's when you remember she loves you, not her. That you're the one she wants to be with. She could have kept it a secret, let you go on without knowing what happened. Eventually it would come out and cause you more pain than you're in right now. Look at Owen. Ikey and Allison kept their affair quiet, and he found out anyway, from Ray of all people. Not from Ikey, and certainly not from Allison. That gal loves you enough to tell you she made one bad mistake, and she didn't have to."  
  
"She never could lie.", Eddie agreed, "One of the things I love about her, but still..."  
  
"Don't get me wrong.", Bob shifted in his seat, trying to get comfortable while taking the pressure off his back, "Forgiveness is going to take time. Be angry, be mad. Use it to figure out what you want to do, take all the time you want, but eventually you will have to decide. It wouldn't be right for you to stay in place, wouldn't be right for either of you. You need to move on with your life, either together or apart."  
  
"Yeah.", Eddie looked at Nick's dad, a man he thought of as a father for most of his life, "What did you do? After..."  
  
"Forgave her and kept her, until the day she died. I looked the man who tried to take her away from me straight in the eye. Let him know she picked me, she wanted me, loved me. He left town not long after, heard he met someone, happily married with a brood of grandkids.", Bob looked at him, "One day, it will be a distant memory, for both of you. Not now, but one day."  
  
He checked his watch, "I got to go. I'm supposed to meet Leslie for lunch."  
  
He was at the door when he turned to look at Eddie, "If you love her, I mean really love her, don't let her go. Not everyone is fortunate to find love, especially the love of a good woman. Take it from a man who's been fortunate to be love by not only one, but two good women."  
  
"Yeah.", Eddie nodded his head, "Thanks."  
  
"No problem.", Bob said, "Take care of yourself, Eddie."  
  
"You, too.", Eddie called after him.  
  
Alone, Eddie rested back against his pillows, thinking about the older man's words, what he had said.  
  
He knew Janet loved him, he had seen it in her tear-filled eyes that morning. The question was did she love him enough to wait while he tried to do like Mr. Garrett said...to forgive her and keep her, or forgive her and let her go.


End file.
